ABSTRACT
Accurate characterization of rock masses prior to blasting operations is seldom performed in most industrial applications, and consequently fragmentation prediction is still a difficult task to perform. The subject is particularly important for mining companies concerned with minimizing production costs because of the well-known influence of blast fragmentation on the costs of subsequent loading, transport and comminution operations.
To facilitate this rock mass characterization phase, a new property that the author calls rock mass fragmentability, is believed to provide a contribution for the purpose of rational design of blasting rounds aimed to reach a specified degree of fragmentation, by selecting the appropriate explosive energy, charge distribution and delay sequencing required for each blast.
Following definition of this concept, examples of its application to bench blasting operations are described. Fragmentability measurements are explained, correlations with other rock mass properties are presented and suggestions for its further utilization are proposed.
